FSI Cambodian Basic Course - Volume 2

This FSI Cambodian course volume II (of 2) completes the 90-unit FSI Cambodian Basic Course, of which Volume I was written in 1966. The linguist in charge of this phase of the project has been George F. Beasley. The Cambodian language materials were writtenby Someth Suos, who was also the principal resource for information on usage. Dale I. Purtle, formerly a member of the FSI linguist staff, gave valuable assistance in bringing this text to a state of readiness for publication.

Kern Sos, a Cambodian instructor at FSI, rendered the substantial service of transcribing the text in Cambodian script. The glossary was compiled by Lip Huon, also a member of the Cambodian teaching staff. Donna I. lanes did the final typing of the English portions. The tape recordings which accompany this volume were prepared in the F SI Language Laboratory under the direction of Cary Alley and were voiced principally by Lip Huon and Kern Sos.

The Foreign Service Institute gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the U.S. Office of Education which has made the preparation and publication of Volumes I and II of the FSI Cambodian Basic Course possible.

You can find the previous volume of the FSI Cambodian course here: FSI - Cambodian Basic Course - Volume 1

Khmer or Cambodian more formally is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. With approximately 16 million speakers, it is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language (after Vietnamese). Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, through the vehicles of Hinduism and Buddhism. It is also the earliest recorded and earliest written language of the MonKhmer family, predating Mon and by a significant margin Vietnamese. The Khmer language has influenced, and has been influenced by, Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, Chinese and Cham, all of which, due to geographical proximity and long-term cultural contact, form a sprachbund in peninsular Southeast Asia.

Cambodian is spoken in: Cambodia

Cambodian is also called: Khmer